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Who is your favorite Bond director? (Poll)

TRUSTNO1TRUSTNO1
edited June 2011 in Bond Movies Posts: 2
My favorite director is Terence Young
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Comments

  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    Posts: 4,399
    i kind of like Guy Hamilton's work on the Bond franchise..

    Goldfinger
    Diamonds Are Forever
    Live And Let Die
    The Man With The Golden Gun...

    while the 3 films after Goldfinger might not have been as strong as it - i felt like this wasn't a fault of direction - it was just mainly the story (although Live And Let Die is one of my personal favorites)... the direction in each of these films i felt was excellent..
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,356
    Terence Young, ever so closely followed by the man that should have succeeded him, Peter Hunt.
  • PrinceKamalKhanPrinceKamalKhan Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
    Posts: 3,262
    Young, Terence Young with honorable mention to the underrated Lewis Gilbert. The former was the expert on Fleming's literary Bond while the latter was the master of big-budget epic movie Bond.
  • CoH_GHOST_007CoH_GHOST_007
    Posts: 303
    I have a few, especially the ones mentioned above, but personally, my favourite is Martin Campbell for delivering only two, but my top two Bond films, keeping the bond formula up-to date along with a great story.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Lewis Gilbert
  • Agent005Agent005
    Posts: 562
    Top five:

    1. Terence Young
    2. Peter Hunt
    3. Guy Hamilton
    4. Martin Campbell
    5. John Glen
  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823
    whoever directed Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, Goldeneye, and Casino Royale

    sorry, I am too lazy to look them up!
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited June 2011 Posts: 4,399
    @j7wild

    that would be... in order...

    Terence Young
    Terence Young
    Guy Hamilton
    Peter Hunt
    Lewis Gilbert
    John Glen
    John Glen
    John Glen
    Martin Campbell
    Martin Campbell

    ;-)
  • dragonskydragonsky
    Posts: 2,491
    call be me insane but martin campbell
  • imranbecksimranbecks Singapore
    Posts: 984
    Martin Campbell definitely! He impressed the world on both the Bond movies he directed....

    Lee Tamahori anyone???
  • PanchitoPistolesPanchitoPistoles 2.0
    Posts: 4,619
    As a Bond-director: Terence Young and Martin Campbell. As a director in general I like Sam Mendes more than any other previous director of Bond films. (If that makes sense.)
  • VirageVirage
    edited June 2011 Posts: 1,856
    MC Campbell
  • VirageVirage
    edited June 2011 Posts: 1,856
    OKAY somethings screwy
  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    edited June 2011 Posts: 823
    @j7wild

    that would be... in order...

    Terence Young
    Terence Young
    Guy Hamilton
    Peter Hunt
    Lewis Gilbert
    John Glen
    John Glen
    John Glen
    Martin Campbell
    Martin Campbell

    ;-)
    thank you haserot!

    so Peter Hunt only directed ONE Bond Film, OHMSS, and it's still the BEST Bond Film ever.

    Why did he not direct any others?

    a review of OHMSS "took the words right out of my mouth!!"

    http://www.thevervoid.com/media/bond_06.htm

  • LudsLuds MIA
    edited June 2011 Posts: 1,986
    Why did he not direct any others?
    Because although OHMSS did make good money, it was a huge down from the expectations and compared to the previous movies with Connery. The producers seemed to blame everyone involved, Lazenby and Hunt, who never worked again with EON.

    --

    Who's the best director? Terrance Young without a doubt. Young was just as important to the success of the Franchise as Connery and Ian Fleming. He made James Bond classy, the direction of the first 4 films is really all his vision. Hamilton basically admitted he just copied what Young did.
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    As the question is "favourite" instead of "best" I'll say:

    1) Martin Campbell. He did two near-impossible things with GE. He took a lightweight TV personality who looked a little manorexic and made him credible as James Bond, one of the greatest film characters of all time. The other thing he did was to bring back the lush, timeless class of the greatest Bond films and update it to the modern age. GE was the first Bond film in a long time that felt like "classic" Bond despite the modern touches.

    Then with CR he again brought the sense of class and luxury but added three dimensional characters, the most exciting action scenes since OHMSS, and complex, memorable performances. It's no accident that CR was the best reviewed major studio release of the year (as per Rotten Tomatoes) and that Craig was nominated for a BAFTA. To use an over-used phrase, Campbell simply took Bond to another level and showed that after over 40 years Bond could still be fresh, exciting, and relevent.

    2) Peter Hunt. Prior to CR he probably would have ranked as my #1. OHMSS still stands up today - while in look it's the most mod of all the Bond films (and therefore the most uncomfortably close to Austin Powers) it's cutting edge direction and pace means that it probably holds up to mainstream audience veiwing better than most of the 60s Bond films. Like Campbell he hits all the right "Bond buttons" but his action scenes are still potent today and there's a touching love story as well - all the more amazing considering Lazenby's lack of acting experience at the time. The touching nature of the proposal scene, the wordless suspense of the safecracking scene, the ballistic nature of the fight on the beach - again, like Campbell, he took the type of scenes that had been done before and raised them to the next level.

    3) Terence Young. Set the template and what a template it was. I can't imagine what it must have been like for an audience seeing his films during their first release; how they must have been unlike anything they had ever seen before. While Connery was the definitive Bond Young was the unseen Bond - without him we would likely not be watching new Bond films today.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,423
    1. Peter Hunt - a masterpiece. No other movie so perfectly captures the world of Fleming; an exhilirating action adventure with a heart.

    2. Terence Young - turned the rough diamond that was Sean Connery and turned him into a gem. Young and Hunt deliverd the most intense action scenes. Look at Chateau fight from Thunderball, helped by John Barry, of course.

    3. Lewis Gilbert - big budget, epic films; he kept the pace up AND he delivered thrills, spills and suspense. Underrated.

    4. Martin Campbell - GE is alright, I felt the action scenes could do with a little trimming, but with CR.... I feel lordflasheart said it best, up above.......
    :)
  • imranbecksimranbecks Singapore
    Posts: 984
    Lee Tamahori :-)
  • j7wildj7wild Suspended
    Posts: 823
    I guess this is too much to ask but we will probably never see another Bond film ever again in the quality and faithfulness of OHMSS!
  • thelordflasheartthelordflasheart
    Posts: 1,370
    Lee Tamahori :-)
    The funny thing is, the first half of DAD really is well directed. It's just that all the badness in the second half erases that from people's minds...

  • JBFan626JBFan626
    Posts: 1,497
    True, Lee Tamahori does make DAD 'look good.' The atmostphere evoked in the opening scene is very grey and gritty and fits the tone well. The direction is pretty tight in the first half and he gets decent performances out of the actors.

    It seems to fall apart in the writing in the second half, in the dialogue., and of course the dodgy CG effects. Who's to blame here I wonder? Purvis and Wade have gone on record to say that there original story was blown out of proportion. But what about those terrible lines? I guess it's the producers. Anyways...

    As far as best directors go, I would have to say Peter Hunt. Sure he was working with the best Fleming story, but he really crafted a fine movie, got excellent performances, and orchestrated some of the best action scenes in a movie possibly ever.

    Of course Terrence Young does come to mind, but compare his first Bond picture to Peter Hunt's first! Imagine if Peter Hunt had gone on to do Diamonds as a follow up with Lazenby?
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,356
    It seems to fall apart in the writing in the second half, in the dialogue., and of course the dodgy CG effects. Who's to blame here I wonder? Purvis and Wade have gone on record to say that there original story was blown out of proportion. But what about those terrible lines? I guess it's the producers.
    I think it's more to do with no one being happy with the script at any one time. It was constantly evolving, more than any other in the series and that's what ruined it in my opinion.
    Imagine if Peter Hunt had gone on to do Diamonds as a follow up with Lazenby?
    Then we'd have been off to a fascinating new start for the series which could've meant the 70's would be as good as the 60's. Now that's something.
  • BounineBounine
    edited June 2011 Posts: 2,599
    I'd probably have to rate Terence Young and Peter hunt equal. Pity Hunt didn't direct more Bond films in a similar vein to OHMSS. This is my favourite Bond film along with FRWL.
  • St_GeorgeSt_George Shuttling Drax's lovelies to the space doughnut - happy 40th, MR!
    edited June 2011 Posts: 1,699
    Peter Hunt

    OHMSS is such a superb - if not the best - Bond film and for so many reasons it's because of Hunt's direction.


    By the way, I hope you don't mind, @TRUSTNO1, I've taken the liberty of adding a poll... :)
  • KlausHergesheimerKlausHergesheimer
    edited June 2011 Posts: 152
    I think John Glen is a little underrated by most of you guys. Besides A View To A Kill, the rest of his movies were excellent. FYEO is my favorite Moore movie and Octopussy is my second favorite Moore film. TLD and LTK are also both classics that are ranked in my top 5.
  • hankscorpiohankscorpio
    Posts: 8
    When it comes to my favourite, its Martin Campbell. The two he directed are one of the best in the franchise. John Glen was fine for an action director, but in most of the cases failed to explore the characters, treated them more like tools than real people, despite this most of his films were good. As for Guy Hamilton, he directed the first Bond blockbuster and contributed to the fame of the character.
  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,599
    Martin Campbell is certainly the best contemporary Bond (post John Glen) director.
  • jamesdutjamesdut
    Posts: 95
    I agree that up to licence to kill all the directors used apart from hunt made 3 or more bond films and all come in the top of everyones lists. Only Martain Campball comes into the lists from after Licence to Kill and he is the only one who has made more than one since then. My point is that they should get a director and stick with them for a few films to be more consiste.
  • BounineBounine
    Posts: 2,599
    I think Terence Young injected a tad more elegance into his Bond films than Hunt did in OHMSS. The latter was a pioneer in his cutting style for the kinetic scenes.
  • GoodfellaGoodfella
    Posts: 6
    Terence Young, Martin Cambell, Guy Hamilton, and John Glen.
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